Category: Yosmany Mayeta Labrada

Durán resides on the seventh floor of the building and commented to 14ymedio that on Tuesday evening the residents had a meeting with leaders of the Provincial Housing Directorate, but the meeting did not specify what will happen next with the affected families after the evacuation. “I will not accept a cubicle in a shelter,” concludes the woman.

This Tuesday, about 120 people were trapped in the building after the stairs that gave access to the apartments collapsed, as reported here.

In the evening hours, the authorities installed an external elevator through which paramedics and health personnel have accessed the building. So far no injuries have been reported, but according to one police officer at midday, “there are elderly among the trapped,” some with blood pressure problems.

“My cousins ​​live there. They have been complaining about the bad condition of the stairs for five months and although the authorities visited the place nothing was fixed,” says a neighbor, indignant at the lack of government action.

“Right here in San Rafael there are several buildings that are falling apart, the government repairs the stores on the ground floors but the apartments on are the upper floors and they fall in and no one cares“

For Manuel, a man who lives on the corner of Neptune and Amistad Street, this morning’s collapse is only “the tip of the iceberg.”

“Right here in San Rafael there are several buildings that are falling apart, the government repairs the stores on the ground floors but the apartments on are the upper floors and they fall in and no one cares,” he added.

According to Rescue and Salvation personnel in the area, the stairs on the third floor collapsed.

“We are waiting for the scaffolding to arrive so we can begin to remove the people who are at risk, bit by bit to empty out the structure,” said one of the rescue workers.

A specialist from the Municipal Housing Department of Central Havana said that they had received complaints from the residents “for years.”

“The building itself is a danger. They wanted to put the people in shelters but we don’t have the capacity in the district to shelter so many people“

“The elevator doesn’t work. The stairs are on the verge of collapse. The building itself is a danger. They wanted to put the people in shelters but we don’t have the capacity in the district to shelter so many people,” she explained.

After the collapse of the stairs the electricity company cut off the electricity and also suspended the gas service. After a “thorough checkup,” the specialists of both institutions decided to re-connect the services.

The Cuban authorities recognize that the housing problem is the first social necessity in Cuba.

According to official figures 33,889 families (132,699 people) need a roof. Most of them have spent decades in “temporary” shelters for victims of building collapses or cyclones.

In 2012, the Census of Population and Housing showed that 60% of the 3.9 million homes on the island are in poor condition.

“There are dozens of people and even pets trapped in that building and everything is as if nothing happened. Will we wait for Havana to collapse to realize the serious problem we have with housing?” Yanelis, a resident of Old Havana, said indignantly, having come to look at the building.

“It rains, there’s thunder or lightening, every day comes with something new,” says a clerk at La California store, who given her proximity is a frequent spectator of the exploits of this well-known local fakir. “Sometimes he makes me nervous because the nails he puts in his nose are quite long,” she says.

Vargas Lefebre is undaunted and boasts that he has traveled “all over Cuba” and every year presents his street performance at the Rancho Boyero Fair in Havana

However, Vargas Lefebre is undaunted and boasts that he has traveled “all over Cuba” and every year presents his street performance at the Rancho Boyeros Fair in Havana. “I live on the tips they give me, but my dream is for someone to look at this old man and help me become a real circus performer,” he concludes.

Jose Antonio Vargas says he has “an iron constitution,” does not drink or smoke and says his best artistic numbers are “with sharp sabers,” but he can’t perform them on the street as the police expressly forbid it. “They are considered weapons, but I look for an out of the way place where I can do it,” he confesses.

He is considered the only “famous” fakir in all of Cuba and acknowledges that he is “without money, but without rival.” He also dances, sings and hums musical notes while pounding with a hammer on his nose as if it were a piece of wood. The passing tourists leave him with some coins, which are his main sustenance.

“Don’t try this at home,” he advises a child watching him while putting the handle of a mirror through his infinite nostril.

A study published in 2005 by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) warned that the main channel of the river was in a “critical hygienic and health situation.” The report drafted by specialists at the Higher Institutes of Technologies and Applied Sciences documented, at that time, 70 sources that dumped hazardous waste into its waters with “high levels of organic and inorganic contaminants, among them toxic substances such as heavy metals.”

The river bank has been systematically stripped from trees and in the last decades some 17 dams and reservoirs have been created in its tributaries

The river bank has been systematically stripped of trees and in the last decades some 17 dams and reservoirs have been created in its tributaries. Another CITMA study determined that 80% of the contamination came from organic domestic waste and that some 200 liters of sewage flows into the river every second.

“The only thing that can be fished here is a good infection,” Gonzalo mocks as he points to those still, dark waters that approach his modest home. On the shore floats a mass composed mostly of plastic bottles and bags, while the surface is lit up in many areas due to hydrocarbon spillage.

Domestic and industrial waste has seriously damaged the Almendares’s biodiversity, according to CITMA. Lorenzo Rodriguez Betancourt, a CITMA specialist, told the official press that the cleaning of the basin was “an immediate mission, but very complex at the same time, because it requires a major investment of capital and the creation of awareness in the residents living close to the area.”

Among the measures taken by the government is the closure of the two beer breweries, the Tropical and the Polar, which dumped part of their waste into the water, and also replacing the technology of the Mario Fortuny Gas plant and the Coppelia Ice Cream plant. Several nearby facilities that produced construction materials were dismantled.

Authorities point to urban settlements as one of the main sources of pollution, but residents of El Fanguito defend themselves. “This neighborhood does not have a sewer,” says Rosa, a retired teacher who settled in the area two decades ago. “We paid the bills for water and electricity but outside that we have been forgotten by everyone,” she says.

Every day, the woman takes care of her bodily needs in a can that she empties at night in a nearby mound. The place is full of debris and a truck rarely comes to pick it up. Legends abound about crocodiles and enormous catfish known as claria that swallow everything in their path. At night, families prefer to stay indoors and one of the first lessons they teach their children is “don’t swim in the river.”

Rosa was filled with hopes a decade ago when a project led by then Vice President Carlos Lage was heralded as the solution for the slum. The project included the construction of new houses, the asphalting of streets and even several playgrounds for children in the area. But the idea never moved past the planning stage and Lage was soon ousted.

Instead of improvements, the neighborhood has continued to grow, chaotic and impoverished. More than two hundred houses dot the banks of the river, cramped and flimsy. The police avoid going into the area and on rainy days everything takes on the color of mud.

Some initiatives focus momentary attention on the problem, such as the recently concluded Casiguaguas River Festival, which, under the motto “For Cleaner Water,” brought together various social actors and institutions interested in environmental action. But after the headlines in the press and the TV reports, the sewage took over once again.

For Armando Hernández López, representative of the National Sports and Recreation Institute (INDER), who gave a lecture at the second River Festival, many communities on the bank have “poor housing, overcrowding, precarious sanitation, low educational levels, school dropouts and alcoholism, where in spite of the talks carried out by different sectors, the sanitary and hygienic conditions become more acute.”

Clara María Kindelán, a specialist at the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, believes that the main actions should be taken in communities and work centers

Clara María Kindelán, a specialist at the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, believes that the main actions should be taken in communities and work centers. The state of the river does not yet allow “sanitation activities where participants have contact with water. Decontaminating the Almendares River will be our main challenge in the coming years,” she says.

A representative of CITMA in the capital said that the pollutants have been reduced, but that there are still more than 50. The official adds to the list sources of waste that have been closed, including “two paper mills and a rubber company.” Although the latter, she clarified, has begun to be readied to reopen, “by a political decision.”

For the president of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution at 19^th and Rio Streets in El Fanguito, the urgency is to move from words to deeds. “All they do is talk to us about eliminating the sewage that goes into to the river, but nobody is in charge of building or helping to build a good sewer.” The resident says that there have been “angry outbursts” in the community because the children “play around these waters.”

Meanwhile, the elderly Gonzalo no longer registers the stench that permeates his house and his skin. He looks at the river of his childhood as a convalescent relative that needs urgent therapy. He has lost the illusion of ever swimming in its waters again someday.

“With that trick Regla also avoids paying a good part of the payment of taxes on her personal income. Of the 535,000 self-employed in the county, right now 170,000 of them must present their their affidavit, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Among her ample catalog, Lycra pants printed with an American flag are a stand out.

“Everything I have is better quality than in the store,” the saleswoman explains with pride. This week she has again whispered to customers to look at her merchandise in the doorways, because the building where she has her stand is closed for repairs.

Among her ample catalog, Lycra pants printed with an American flag are a stand out. The official media have railed against this garment on repeated occasions, but its presence in the streets continues to grow.

The police control the areas where these sellers frequently offer their merchandise. The penalty for illegal sales includes the confiscation of all the products and a fine of 1,500 pesos. However, the informal sellers continue to dominate a good part of the market for clothing and shoes to the detriment of state owned “Hard Currency Collection” stores, as the state stores are formally named.

Yulia offers her products on Infanta Street. Mot of them come from Russia, Guyana and Haiti. “I started traveling to countries that did not require a visa, but for months I also bought in Haiti.” She thinks that the Caribbean country is a good destination to be supplied from because of the low prices of plane tickets.

This illegal market has also found its own ways of protecting itself

“I go to the home of relatives in Santiago de Cuba and I fly from there,” she explains. “I take clothes twice as big.” This is because the investment is lower than in the case of more distant trips, such as the distant Moscow.

Obtaining a visa for Haiti is relatively easy for Cubans, and Yulia recently also got the Haitian residency. Her new legal status will allow her to expand her business. “Everyone wants pretty clothes from outside the country,” says the saleswoman who has been in the trade for seven years.

This illegal market has also found its own ways of protecting itself. To the cry of “water!” the informal sellers of Monte Street hide their goods or vanish on some stairs. It’s the code to warn that the police are coming. When the authorities withdraw, they all return to their places. Until the next warning.

Yudith Gonzalez, a worker in the store, attributes the fire to “a short circuit in a power outlet on one of the wooden walls.” In statements to 14ymedio, the clerk regretted that when the first flames were noticed and the store evacuated she did not take her personal belongings or salvage merchandise.

A resident of 116 Rayo Street, who explained that “smoke covered the whole area,” watched from his balcony as the “shop windows exploded sending pieces out into the street.”

Given the high residential density of this area of Central Havana and the commercial character of Chinatown, the firefighters had to cordon off the perimeter and convince numerous onlookers to keep their distance. After three and a half hours’ work, the fire was put out.

Several high-ranking officials from the Ministry of the Interior and directors of the Cimex Corporation, to which the shopping center belongs, came to the area. The experts began to investigate the precise causes of the fire.

From nearby buildings, numerous neighbors decided to film the flames with their cellphones, a practice increasingly common among Cubans. The closeness of the building to the Fe del Valle Park wifi connection zone, meant that many of the images were uploaded to social networks within hours.

A young man who was recording nearby commented to this paper that he saw the smoke from La Cabaña Fort, where he had been visiting the Book Fair. “I came to see what happened because I was afraid something had happened to my house,” said the young man, who lives in a poorly maintained building on San Nicolas Street, a few yards from fire.

After putting out the flames, the firefighters began to evacuate the area and fill the street with items ranging from burned up washing machines to other home appliances blackened by the smoke. At dusk Zanja Avenue was reopened although access to that stretch of Rayo Street remains blocked.

The access to the viewpoint, some 460 feet above sea level and with a 30-mile view, was finally restored asof 1 February, after several days of testing of the new elevator.

The pilot test was not announced in the national press, which only released the date on Wednesday, to “not detract significance to the symbolic reopening”

Ana María Troya Ávila, in charge of the public relations for the monument, told 14ymedio that the service is in “high demand.” She added, “In just seven days this place welcomed around 3,000 visitors, both Cubans and foreigners.”

The pilot test was not announced in the national press, which only released Wednesday date, so as “not to detract from the significance of the symbolic reopening,” she said. One element that contributed to the annoyance of those waiting outside who were not allowed to enter.

One Spanish tourist said she was outraged by the constant bureaucracy of the island. “They keep us waiting for hours and in the end don’t open it,” she protested. Cubans just shake their heads. “We are used to this, the foreigners just have to adapt,” says an old man to calm tempers.

The incident, however, did not diminish the enthusiasm of the employees who made the inaugural tour with an unusual joy. “From this high site you can see points of extreme importance of our capital that distinguishes us in any part of the world”, detailed Troya Ávila.

According to Jorge Estany Ramírez, administrator of the memorial and the person in charge of the process of buying and assembling the elevator, the supplier of the equipment has been the Spanish company Electra Vitoria. “Its speed is six feet per second and is among the fastest in the city right now.” He also highlighted the hard work in the installation and adjustment process that began in early 2016 and has lasted until this January.

“The repair was complicated, because a major change was made, the entire elevator system was replaced from the machinery to the counterweight, so it was a year of hard work that involved not only the change of the old structure, but the need for other repairs that came up during the assembly and in the years that no service was provided,” said Estany Ramírez.

“For us this reopening represents a profit from the economic point of view , because it is a benefit that raises a lot of money and the income is soaring”

One important fact that Troya Ávila wanted to emphasize is the compass of the winds that is inlaid in the floor of the viewpoint, showing the distances between the Memorial and the six provinces at the moment of the construction of the monument and some capitals of the world, and also the significant places related to the life of José Martí.

“For us this reopening represents a benefit from the economic point of view, because it is a that raises a lot of money and the income when we provide these services are soaring and favors us,” said the official.

The Venetian ceramic murals, which are the work of the Cuban Enrique Caravia, in addition to all the images of the floor will be restored in cooperation with the Office of the Historian of the City. The managers of the place plan for the work to be carried out without affecting the access of the visitors.

The José Martí Memorial is open to the public from Monday to Saturday from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm and offers a full tour for 8 Cuban pesos (CUP -roughly $0.32 US) for residents on the Island or 6 CUP if they only want to access the lookout point. Foreigners must pay 5 Cuban convertible pesos (CUC – roughly $5.00 US) and 3 CUC for the same services.

According to the neighbors, the incident began when some welding sparks fell on the rolls of fabric stored in the warehouse. The flames quickly reached the offices, the workshops and the furniture housed in the premises.

The Ministry of the Interior has begun an investigation to determine the causes of the fire.

The Ministry of the Interior has begun an investigation to determine the causes of the fire

The images of the flames spread quickly through the application Zapya, widely used to share content on mobile phones. Onlookers filmed from the surrounding rooftops, but as the fire spread, police officers evacuated the area.

“There were many firefighters who came to support the first responders, because the flames went everywhere and the trucks arrived almost without water, but it was more than an hour before it was completely extinguished,” said Carlos, a young man who recorded everything with his cell phone from the top of a nearby building where “everything could be seen clearly.”

Noelia Fuentes, a resident of Subirana Street, between Santo Tomas and Clavel, explained that the smell of burning spread quickly throughout the neighborhood and the neighbors went out to see what was happening. “But when we saw that there were a lot of flames, we had to get away. The fire almost reached the electrical wires and was a danger,” she reported.

Some speculated that a fire in a place “with many valuable products, like fabrics, wood and lacquers,” would result in thousands of pesos worth of loses.

Minutes after arriving, the first fire trucks shut off the electricity because the flames were reaching the wires. After seven hours, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, electricity was restored.

In the evening hours, local workers and company managers began cleaning up and the street was once again passable for vehicles.

Coinciding with the restoration process of the Alameda and the streets surrounding the new malecon, the City Conservation Office has made every effort to restrict carts in the most central areas

For years, the routes from the previous collection point to La Barca de Oro and the old Havana Terminal, carried about 2,000 passengers a day, according to the calculations of several self-employed people who frequent the place.

Since the beginning of 2016, and coinciding with the restoration process of the Alameda and the streets surrounding the new malecon, the City Conservation Office has made every effort to restrict carts in the most central areas. “It had to be done to preserve the place because of its high urban and environmental value,” says one of the Office’s specialists, who prefers anonymity. “The horses defecated in the middle of the road and their owners did not outfit them with waste collectors,” complains the professional.

The neighbors of the area are among the beneficiaries and applaud the measure. Maria Antonia Reyes, who previously had to clean in front of her house “when horses urinated” is now satisfied to be able to breathe “cleaner air.”

The pedicabs have been favored by the new regulations. “There is no shortage of customers, we have one after another and at the end of the day I arrive home with more money,” says Manolo, one of the drivers of these bicycle’s designed for public transport.

But the people of Santiago, who had favored horse-drawn carts as an alternative to the poor bus service, have fewer opportunities for internal mobility.

“The Alameda was a point from where it was easy to go anywhere,” 14ymedio is told by Norge Gonzalez, a cart driver with more than 15 years of experience. “In less than ten minutes the cart was full, but now people prefer to take something else because of the distance to the coach stand,” he says.

Another of the provisions that have fired up the cart drivers is the imposition of capped prices, which were set at two Cuban pesos (about 8 cents US), three less than what was charged previously. Offenders can be punished with high fines or even confiscation of their vehicles.

Against this background, some of the coachmen have proposed to stop work for a couple of days, as a way to pressure the authorities and to get the measures repealed

Given this situation, some of the coachmen have proposed to stop work for a couple of days, as a way to pressure the authorities and to get the measures repealed. The lack of organization of the union and the fear of a massive withdrawal of licenses, however, restrains any initiative of protest.

Self-employment regulations include a license for those carrying “freight or passengers with their own or leased means using a horse drawn cart,” an occupation of particular importance for mobility in rural areas, where up to 80% of passengers travel in this type of vehicle.

The discontent in the sector over the latest measures taken in many municipalities has been noted throughout the island since last year. In November, the coachmen in the municipality of Mayarí in Holguín, shut down their work in protest against the imposition of price caps on the part of the authorities, who from 1 October onwards forced them to cut their fares in half.

In July, horse-drawn cart drivers in Placetas, Villa Clara, went on a strike after being warned by local government officials that their routes would be moved to another area, outside the downtown areas of the city.

“We have lost all our appliances and even the money we saved to buy an air conditioner that was stored next to the clothing,” complained Acosta Ramirez, who has received the condolences and solidarity of her closest neighbors.

“The firefighters soon arrived,” says a neighbor while cleaning out the water that had entered her home during the efforts to extinguish the fire.

The images of the flames coming from the windows of the third floor of La Cruz Verde building quickly spread through social networks. The location of the property on one of the busiest streets in Havana’s historic center facilitated the recording and subsequent dissemination of the incident.

The eight apartments on the third floor were also affected, along with those on the floor below.

On Thursday morning several social workers from the Municipal Labor and Social Security Department came to the building to quantify the damage. Odalis Martinez, a social worker, explained that her task was to assess the situation and provide a summary to the directors of the Council of the Municipal Administration (CAM) of the People’s Power. “They will be the ones who respond,” said the young woman, who explained that social workers are only “mediators between the government and the people, nothing more.”

Jose Luis Garcia, a resident affected by the incident, said the damage caused by heat, fumes and smoke spread across all the housing units. “I was not here when it happened, but a wave of heat came through the bathroom window that melted my blender and affected other appliances in the house”.

“The door fell out and since yesterday we are without electricity, water and gas, because all these facilities were destroyed,” insists a neighbor. If the damage is not dealt with promptly, the neighbors plan to address the government agencies to demand a response.

Another neighbor who requested anonymity said that the power grid of the building was in poor condition. “For years we have been suffering from the poor condition of the cables, but we had to fix the breakdowns ourselves and problems still persist.”

The already poor state of her home worsened with the storm that brought heavy rains, linked to the ninth tropical depression of the hurricane season, a weather phenomenon that caused intense rains in the west and center of the island and moderate flooding in the coastal town of Surgidero of Batabanó.

Rodriguez Cedeño works for Community Services and has lived in her home for more than 35 years. The resident told 14ymedio that her housing problems began in 2003, but she has not yet received a reply from anyone. Right now her situation is desperate.

“For 13 years I have been asking for repairs to my house, but but always tell me there are no building materials”

The anguish has led her to also pressure the authorities with the warning that she is not going to send her grandchildren to school this Monday, when the new school year begins nationwide, because she does not have the conditions to guarantee them a “home.”

“For thirteen years I have been asking through a technical report for repairs to my house, but they always tell me there are no building materials,” she says. On other occasions, Rodriguez Cedeño has chosen to “make repairs with my own resources,” but the deteriorating economic status of the family, made up of “four women and two little girls who have chronic asthma,” has prevented her from being able to make the arrangements to do it herself.

After several hours in which the women stayed with their belongings in the open street, the authorities of the Council of the Municipal Administration (CAM) of Old Havana arrived, to learn what damage occurred in the house and to call for calm. Dozens of people, especially foreigners passing through the city, were filming what was happening.

The directors of CAM explained that the family would be located in a Transit Community (a shelter) for about seven days and then taken to inhabitable housing in another community for people whose homes have been declared uninhabitable or have collapsed.

Rodriguez Cedeño had spent the whole night between the street and the half-ruined house, waiting for the authorities keep their word this Sunday. She warned that they would “plant themselves in the street again” if they didn’t provide a permanent solution to her case.

These residents of the Old Havana have become part of the 33,889 families across the country who need a home

In their current situation, these residents of the Old Havana neighborhood have become part of the 33,889 families (132,699 people) across the country who need a home, many of whom have spent decades living in shelters for victims. The population census of 2012 showed that 60% of the 3.9 million existing housing units on the island are in poor condition.

During the last session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in July, the deputies met in the Standing Committee on Industry, Construction and Energy, and agreed that “the housing problem is the number one social need in Cuba.” The parliamentarians criticized “lack of coordination, integration and priority” at the municipal level in managing the demands of the population in terms of applications for materials and construction permits.

In the first half of this year, at least 90,652 people who have received subsidies for construction work have gone to the stores selling materials. However, only 52,000 have been able to buy all of the materials they were assigned, due to shortages of key products such as steel, cement blocks, bathroom fixtures, tiles and roofing.

“I was fined several times,” says the artist, “but now I have authorization from the Office of the City Historian to develop my craft works here,” he said, while his fingers agilely braided the wings of an inspiring insect.

At 44, this Artemisa artist based in San Miguel del Padron has turned to crafts looking to support himself. When he lived in his native province he came to the capital every week with the pieces he had made “selling them for prices between 1 and 5 CUCs,” which still hold.

“I have been experimenting for seven years,” explains Misael, and describes some of the “spectacular” works that have never sold that he treasures at home. “I feel comfortable making these pieces out of natural materials and, in addition, I don’t get into trouble with the law,” he stresses.

Every afternoon the artist positions himself near Los Frailes Inn in the old city center to sell his sympathetic figures, most of which he creates before the eyes of the buyers. Other pieces are on display for “when someone is interested” and he then makes them on request in front of his customers.

Onlookers surround him and Misael displays his skills with leaves between his fingers. Sometimes a child approaches and is ecstatic with the animals that emerge with each fold. Misael gives him a grasshopper that seems about to take flight. He knows that many of these little ones’ families don’t have the money to pay him.

“Being an artist is being born again,” he says with the same wisdom that, one day, led him to create wonders with materials that others discard.